Could it be that I am the cruel villain?-Chapter 848 - 483: Seeking a New Ancestor for Themselves (Part 2)

Shaking its body, the originally large and sturdy frame began to shrink slowly. The larger the body size, the greater the energy consumption, until it was about the size of a small dog, then stopped, lazily yawning at Jiang Feng.

"Tsk, Senior Sister, this was all I risked my life to snatch..."

"Aow!"

Immediately bared its teeth.

Reluctantly, Jiang Feng then took out a piece of fresh red ginseng flesh from the Qiankun Bag and tossed it over.

It caught it in one gulp and swallowed it down.

It seemed as if the malice contained within the Blood Ganoderma and the residual souls of the predecessors from the Cultivation World were almost nonexistent against its powerful digestion, and it wouldn't be invaded, but soon it opened its mouth again.

"No more! No more, no more..."

Its head shaking like a rattle drum, facing Ao Qing's bared teeth and threats, Jiang Feng would not continue to take anything out, but at this moment Qingluan actively presented an Immortal Herb.

"Immortal... no, Lord Ao Qing, try this, you should like it."

"Hmm?"

Tilting its head, it directly caught the Immortal Herb from Qingluan's hand in its mouth, chewed a few bites, and immediately swallowed it, revealing a satisfied expression.

Looking at the surprised expression on the man, Qingluan smiled and said, "Young Master, your senior sister and our East Sea Clan's ancestors come from the same lineage, both belong to the Immortal family. Simply speaking of bloodline, she's likely at the same level as our East Sea Clan's ancestors."

"Only, your senior sister's identity is somewhat peculiar, possessing characteristics of the Fox Spirit, the Immortal Huang, and the Immortal, likely the direct descendant of these families."

"Just now, the Jiuqu Grass contained a lot of spiritual energy, and the mix of breath would be harmful to ordinary Demon Beasts, but for your senior sister, it's a delicacy. Because some Ancient Beasts, ancestors worshipped in our clan also enjoy eating such spiritual energy-rich Immortal Herbs."

"My invitation earlier was to invite her to visit my family. With your senior sister's esteemed identity, it would prompt my father to greet her. If she chooses to stay in Dongyue, she might be bestowed the highest family title by the Holy Emperor, leading countless willing followers."

Listening dazedly.

This was Jiang Feng's first time feeling the pain of "going beyond the scope", furrowing his brow in troubled thought, but next to him, Cen Yueyue merely elbowed someone.

"So foolish, just treat it as our Southern Border's Holy Beast, as your Purple Cloud Palace's ancestor, or at least treat it as your Purple Cloud Palace's Guardian Sect Beast."

A sudden realization.

A very straightforward explanation.

"In her words, our Southern Border's Holy Beast is what is called a Phoenix Fairy. As long as it can grant power to cultivators, or offer protection and blessing, it can be called Immortal, and vice versa, that's the distinction between Immortal Beasts and Demon Beasts."

"The Dong Yue Clan inherited such a bloodline, whether it's Divine Skills, Daoist Skills, or cultivation techniques, all derived from these top ancient Spiritual Beasts."

"They were granted Essence Blood by the Immortal Beasts, and because this blood took root and sprouted, forming a family, they established such a dependency relationship. The immensely powerful Essence Blood bestowed elite talents, strength, fortune; that's why the East Sea Clan formed this scale."

"Didn't Elder Ge previously hint at the calamity of poisoning and the marriage by caesarean? Now you should be able to guess what they intend to do."

Qingluan and Xiao Yu proactively led the way ahead, and the four continued deeper into the Old Dongyue, with Ao Qing seemingly reluctant to walk to dirty itself, Qingluan actively extended a hand.

Leaping up, it pounced into the woman's arms on the spot, rubbing its fluffy head against her bulging chest, full of comfort, with none of the arrogant and majestic demeanor from before.

Just like a big lazy cat sunbathing with its belly exposed, yet Qingluan was all smiles, holding Ao Qing while using her long nails to rhythmically scratch deeply into its fur, appearing to hold a small ancestor.

"I get it now."

"No wonder, no wonder the East Sea Clan is in such a hurry, willing to even send outstanding disciples to their deaths, willing to forcibly extract from living bodies only to retain a bit of bloodline."

"It's a concern about the depletion of the bloodline, right?"

Cen Yueyue merely nodded silently.

Actually, the ancestors of the East Sea Clan and the Southern Border Fire Phoenix did almost the same thing, donating their abilities and parts of their bloodlines to the Human Clan. Hence, even future children of Cen Yueyue would carry parts of such abilities.

Just the purity differs, Cen Yueyue inherited techniques and spiritual energy and various means, functioning more like an "attachment", whereas the East Sea Clan directly grants the bloodline, allowing their descendants to inherit. But such a cost is extremely severe; typically, only those regarded as true family would do this.

"The clan's strength and diverse special abilities, including cultivation practices, are all gifts from the Immortal family in their words. Strictly speaking, they are the subordinates of mighty Spiritual Beasts."

"The Royal Family inherited the bloodline of that person from Ancient Times, and may even be the direct lineage of that Immortal Beast, akin to being direct offspring of our Southern Border Divine Beast."

"Glory shared, misfortune shared. The Royal Family bestows its bloodline upon various Dongyue clans, allowing them to have the current strength and status, possessing faster cultivation and innate Daoist Skills, enviable talent."

"The more powerful the royal blood that is bestowed, the stronger the endowment they receive, and the greater their strength, much like my connection to the Southern Border Divine Beast. The stronger it is, the more powerful the blessings can be, though currently, I can't exert much."

"But compared to me, the East Sea Clan's shortcomings are more apparent as nearly all their abilities originate from Spiritual Beasts."

Despite their conversation not being particularly loud, walking behind while discussing, especially seeing Ao Qing's lazy attitude of not wanting to move, their expressions were of envy.

Regarding Spiritual Beasts, Cen Yueyue knew more than imagined.

"Bloodline inheritance, as time goes by, naturally becomes thinner, as we often mention how one generation is inferior to the previous. Whether intermarrying within or outside the clan can't avoid this."

"Thus, nearly every generation of the East Sea Clan must receive the Royal Family's blessings, the bestowed bloodline, and the Royal Family relies on this to maintain royal authority."

"But the issue lies with the sole heir of the royal blood suffering an accident, seemingly unable to hold on. As the saying goes, 'when the tree falls, the monkeys scatter', the monkeys cannot accept the collapse of this giant tree, thus exhaust all means, using their bodies to prevent the collapse."

"I think this is the origin of the Dongyue's calamity."

"Once that royal successor truly can't hold on, the entire clan will face catastrophe, bloodline depletion, though the generation before the upheaval had received blessings, so considered to have escaped."

"But what about the future generation?"

"Haven't you noticed, all the Dongyue disciples we've encountered aren't particularly strong? The Lang and Xiang Clan, part of Dongyue, are middle-rank; definitely not weak, yet their strength cannot compare to the Demon Clan, even crushed by them."

"Now the strongest Dongyue offspring we've encountered is actually Qingluan who's been following us. Don't you find it absurd? Though the top three houses can still produce several Nascent Soul Stage experts, how do they compare to your Central Plains' youths?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"How do they compare to the Demon Clan?"

"Remember, Dongyue disciples once confronted the Demon Clan multiple times. From the calamity to now is at most two generations, maybe not even two, yet already there's the phenomenon of falling short."

Upon hearing, Jiang Feng finally fully understood Cen Yueyue's point, suddenly feeling amused and bewildered.

"You mean... Qingluan is looking for a new ancestor for her family?"